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Due to war and famine in Korea that occurred beginning in the 1860s, Koreans began settling in Beijing. The Japanese established Manchukuo in Manchuria in the 1930s and established labor migrations from southern Korea to Manchuria. Ultimately this caused Koreans to settle in Beijing. The Communist Party of China gave Chinese citizenship to Koreans who fought for the Communists during the Chinese Civil War.[2]

Hasmath wrote that Compared to other ethnic groups, Beijing Koreans have a higher presence in small and medium enterprise jobs and in corporations.[3] Korean Chinese in Beijing were hired by South Korean firms in the 1980s and 1990s since it would be cheaper to employ them than to hire South Korean nationals for China-related positions, because the Korean Chinese knew Korean.[4]

Prior to the 2000s the Wudaokou area of Haidian District was the most popular area for South Koreans.[5] It was the oldest of the major Korean settlements. Beginning in the early 1990s South Korean students who were studying Chinese for one to two year periods so they could enter Chinese universities began congregating in Wudaokou.[6] Hyejin Kim, author of International Ethnic Networks and Intra-Ethnic Conflict: Koreans in China, wrote that the growth of Wangjing had weakened Wudaokou as a Korean area.[5]

The other two areas with a large concentration of Koreans are Yansha and Yayuncun.[6] These areas have higher than average housing rental prices in Beijing and house offices of overseas companies and embassies.[7] The Beijing government official allows foreigners to settle in those two areas.[6]

In Wangjing and Wudaoukou there are restaurants, electronic repair shops, and information technology businesses which are owned by ethnic Koreans and cater to expatriate Koreans and employees of South Korean companies.[3]

Reza Hasmath, author of A Comparative Study of Minority Development in China and Canada, write that many of Beijing's ethnic Koreans "adopted a strategy of full accommodation to the authority of the central and local Beijing government."[2] According to Hasmath, many Korean families he interviewed chose to have one child even though, under the One Child Policy, they were allowed to have two children.[2]

Several Korean cultural festivals are held in the city. The Beijing Korean Chinese Sports Event in 2008 attracted 100,000 Korean Chinese. Beijing has the Beijing Korean Cultural Research Center, which opened in 1996.[8]